The Naadam Festival: Mongolia's Games

From July 10-13, Mongolia celebrated the annual Naadam festival. The festivities consist of a number of national ceremonies, concerts, and, most notably, sporting competitions—including those for the “three manly sports” of wrestling, horseracing, and archery. Many other side events, such as shegai, a game involving flicking sheep anklebones, and a variety of carnival games are also popular on the holiday.

The Naadam games have been celebrated for centuries by the nation’s nomads and represent Mongolia’s living cultural legacy of nomadic pastoralism. Today, the festival is a major tourism draw which attracts thousands of foreigners each year to witness the spectacle.

A parachutist flies into the Central Stadium for the Naadam Opening Ceremony on Monday, July 11.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Actors dressed as Mongolian soldiers move a symbolic "ger," or yurt, across the field as part of the opening ceremony.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

A drummer on a float poses for the crowd as he makes the rounds on the periphery of the stadium.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

A Mongolian actress, awaiting her team's part in the dramatic opening ceremony performance, poses for the camera.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Flag-bearers charge across the field as a balloon "rocket ship" is launched into the air to commemorate the 1981 USSR voyage which took the first Mongolian into space.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Mongolian soldiers march around the stadium as a boy, right, pokes a girl with an umbrella.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Wrestlers take the field in traditional garb as part of the opening ceremony.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

A man hangs from a bar as he's timed, hoping to earn the money taped to it--part of a carnival game at Central Stadium.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

A deel-wearing man points a paintball gun at a target after the opening ceremony.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Archers fire their first shots down-range in the beginning of the national archery contest.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Judges cheer on the archer with song and dance after he successful shot the target.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Judges in the sand-pit chat wearing traditional "deels."

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Naadam racers charge toward the finish line as a judge monitors.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

Onlookers await the results of the "older horse" category race.

Image Credit: Peter Bittner

A racer readies to head home after completing the many-kilometer race.